Cool jets comments from presentations after a tech grant:
on moodle: I'm not talking to the kids, i'm talking with them.
It took me about 3 hours to create the podcast, but I'm no longer tired at the end of the day. No more lectures.II'm getting to know the needs of my students through these conversations.
One of my girls, I would never call a deep thinker, wrote in a way she never talks. Great insight for me.
Great peer feedback.
Kids bringing in extra resources.
Read 180 kids finding better ways to present themselves. Ones that never talk are presenting great thinking.
I was amazed at how independent they became.
They've never emailed a teacher before, they liked that opportunity, so that was a good experience.
They planned, they pre-planned, learned how to chunk notes, all on their own. Became much more inidividualized in their summarizing skills.
They actually started using their notes as a resource. And started using resources period, without prompting.
They actually stretched beyond use of a graphic organizer.
Forums are not just about having fun, but about increasing their meta-cognitive abilities.
They now have mutliple levels of assessment.
I would never ever be able to hear a lot of this thinking without blogging.
The moodle account actually became theirs. The no longer needed paper and pencil or assignment. It was all in their space. It was almost paperless.
Moodle is a great way to supplement. A nice back up plan.
Now my kids are going to collaborate with other kids in our district on the moodle.